The home plate ump made an outrageously bad call in the Rangers-Rays game the other night, so bad that that apologies had to be issued.

In last night's game Hanrahan struck out McLouth on pitch #5 but the ump called it a ball. If you go to MLB Gameday and look at the pitch graph you'll see that pitch #5 was in virtually the same location as pitch #1, which was called a strike - except that pitch #5 was clearly even higher and better than pitch #1. So there is no dispute that the ump messed up.

Not trying to excuse Hanrahan, and not trying to start a campaign for robot umps. But it's pretty frustrating. And it makes baseball look pretty silly when their own Gameday site clearly shows that the ump was dead wrong on a game-changing call.

The Orioles shouldn't need any extra help by the umps to be competetive. Those 2 strikes by Hanrahan (that, either one should've ended the game) but they called balls, were egregious. Did Hanrahan have his best stuff last night? NO. But that really isn't the issue. He did what he needed to do. Most pitchers don't have their best stuff on any given night, but they get by. This is not a "meltdown". The fix was in. Sox won that game.

The Umps seem to have a tight strike zone this year but it goes both ways....pitchers have to adjust....I do think however that Salty has to get a little less emphatic when catching a ball. Pitchers will never get a call when the Catcher has to reach across his body to catch a pitch, unless the catcher shifts his weight and does it more subtlely.

The Umps seem to have a tight strike zone this year but it goes both ways....pitchers have to adjust....I do think however that Salty has to get a little less emphatic when catching a ball. Pitchers will never get a call when the Catcher has to reach across his body to catch a pitch, unless the catcher shifts his weight and does it more subtlely.

It's commented by the announcers re. the reaching--The ump was given a clear view on that pitch.

Who cares whether the catcher has to reach, it's where the ball crosses the plate.

Let's not blame the umps lets blame JBJ and Ells in addition to Victorino for being in a perfect position to catch the ball in the first or Davis for robbing Pedroia of a trple in the eighth. Or the rain because it didn't rain hard enough to cancel the game. There's always enough blame to go around.

The Umps seem to have a tight strike zone this year but it goes both ways....pitchers have to adjust....I do think however that Salty has to get a little less emphatic when catching a ball. Pitchers will never get a call when the Catcher has to reach across his body to catch a pitch, unless the catcher shifts his weight and does it more subtlely.

Salty was voted one of the best pitch framers of all catchers last year. If its thrown across his body, he has to reach to get it.

The Umps seem to have a tight strike zone this year but it goes both ways....pitchers have to adjust....I do think however that Salty has to get a little less emphatic when catching a ball. Pitchers will never get a call when the Catcher has to reach across his body to catch a pitch, unless the catcher shifts his weight and does it more subtlely.

Salty was voted one of the best pitch framers of all catchers last year. If its thrown across his body, he has to reach to get it.

The home plate ump made an outrageously bad call in the Rangers-Rays game the other night, so bad that that apologies had to be issued.

In last night's game Hanrahan struck out McLouth on pitch #5 but the ump called it a ball. If you go to MLB Gameday and look at the pitch graph you'll see that pitch #5 was in virtually the same location as pitch #1, which was called a strike - except that pitch #5 was clearly even higher and better than pitch #1. So there is no dispute that the ump messed up.

Not trying to excuse Hanrahan, and not trying to start a campaign for robot umps. But it's pretty frustrating. And it makes baseball look pretty silly when their own Gameday site clearly shows that the ump was dead wrong on a game-changing call.

I'm in favor of each manager having a couple of challenges to use per game, as in football. People will complain about instant replay delaying the game, but I already invest enough time into watching baseball...I don't mind a few more minutes now and then if it means getting a potentially game-deciding call right.